The present invention relates to a multi-layer analysis element and to a method for production thereof in which laser radiation is used for cutting.
For analysis of liquid samples, for example body fluids such as blood or urine, analysis appliances are often used in which the sample to be analyzed is located on a test field of an analysis element and, if appropriate, reacts with one or more reagents in the test field before it is analyzed. Optical, in particular photometric, evaluation and electrochemical evaluation of analysis elements are the most common methods for rapid determination of the concentration of analytes in samples. Analysis systems with analysis elements for analysis of samples are generally used in the fields of analysis, environmental analysis and, above all, in medical diagnostics. Analysis elements that are evaluated photometrically or electrochemically are of great importance in particular in the diagnosis of blood glucose from capillary blood.
There are different kinds of analysis elements. For example, substantially square slides are known in the middle of which a multi-layer test field is located. Diagnostic analysis elements of strip shape are referred to as test strips. Analysis elements are widely described in the prior art, for example in the documents CA 2311496 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,846,837, U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,919 or WO 97/02487.
Other multi-layer analysis elements known in the prior art are analysis tapes comprising a multiplicity of test fields that are wound up in a cassette for use in an analysis appliance. Such cassettes and analysis tapes are described, for example, in the documents DE 103 32 488 A1, DE 103 43 896 A1, EP 1 424 040 A1, WO 2004/056269 A1 and CA 2506358 A1.